The Tampa Bay Rays officially have an opponent for the 2021 American League Division Series. The Boston Red Sox will come to town for a best-of-5 series following their 6-2 victory over the New York Yankees Tuesday night.
The Sox and Yankees finished with identical records and it was Boston that advanced in the one-game, winner-take-all wild card.
Now Tampa Bay hosts Boston in the division series starting Thursday.
The Rays finished the season eight games ahead of the Red Sox and won the season series 11 games to 8.
These teams last met in the 2013 playoffs when Boston beat Tampa Bay in the division series en route to their World Series win. The other time they met in the playoffs was during the Rays' magical 2008 World Series run when they faced off in the ALCS.
Below is the schedule for the series:
Game 1: Red Sox @ Rays - Oct. 7 at 8:07 p.m.
Game 2: Red Sox @ Rays - Oct. 8 at 7:02 p.m.
Game 3: Rays @ Red Sox - Oct. 10 at 4:07 p.m.
Game 4*: Rays @ Red Sox - Oct. 11 at TBD
Game 5*: Red Sox @ Rays - Oct. 13 at TBD
*if necessary
Tampa Bay has announced that its starting pitchers to begin the series are Shane McClanahan for game one, and Shane Baz for game 2, with Drew Rasmussen “highly likely” to start Game 3.
The winner of this series will take on the winner of the Houston Astros vs. the Chicago White Sox.
